The stage is set for what could be a drawn-out legal battle between two estranged lovers for a disputed $6-million lottery jackpot.

And the lawyer for Denise Robertson, the Chatham woman who claims she’s entitled to half that prize, says the decision by Ontario’s gambling overseer to award former live-in boyfriend Maurice Thibeault the undisputed $3 million hurts his client’s chances.

“Ms Robertson feels that she is now placed in a position of unfairness,” lawyer Steve Pickard said Monday.

“Mr. Thibeault will have the benefit of his half of the winnings to fight Ms Robertson’s legitimate claim to her half.

“Ms Robertson will have to rely on her own resources to ensure that she is heard fairly in these proceedings.”

Robertson is now evaluating the next steps in the dispute, Pickard said in a statement released Monday.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) notified Robertson by letter on Thursday — a copy of which was obtained by Postmedia — that the internal probe prompted by her legal challenge of the jackpot was over.

It was essentially good news for Thibeault, meaning more legal wrangling looms if Robertson wants a share.

“As you have claimed entitlement to one-half of the prize, being approximately $3.07 million, OLG will retain this portion of the prize,” the letter stated. “The other one-half prize share is undisputed by you and it is OLG’s intention to pay this share to Maurice Thibeault, subject to any applicable deductions, on or about Dec. 30, 2017.”

The letter also states OLG shall retain the disputed prize share for a period of 45 days.

“If the OLG is not advised of a resolution of these matters within 45 days of this correspondence, OLG shall pay the disputed prize share into court on notice of both you and Mr. Thibeault,” the letter states.

Robertson and Thibeault made international headlines this fall after Thibeault bought one of two winning tickets in a $12-million Lotto 6/49 Jackpot on Sept. 20 and then moved out without telling his girlfriend. She claims Thibeault’s move was a bid to keep the roughly $6 million in winnings for himself. In an affidavit, Robertson stated the couple had always agreed to share the winnings of lottery tickets purchased during their two-year-plus relationship.

“I keep hoping that Maurice will simply do the right thing and acknowledge our agreement to share, knowing that he would have expected me to share with him if I had been the one to go to the store that day,” Robertson said.

A Monday statement from Robertson’s lawyer, Steve Pickard, said Robertson is evaluating the next steps in the dispute.

Thibeault’s lawyer was unavailable for comment.

Pickard said his client has mixed feelings about this latest turn of events.

He said she is partially discouraged, but added she takes some comfort in the fact the OLG looked at the dispute and do not feel comfortable paying all the money to Thibeault.

“She takes from that they’ve got enough evidence to think it’s not clear that he’s entitled to that (other half),” Pickard said.

As for pursuing this through the courts, the lawyer said, “I’m not coming at this with a new, novel idea.”

He said the cases that are relevant to this situation are ones that deal with office pools.

“Her claim is really one of a partnership, that ‘We bought these tickets together, we shared,’” Pickard said, adding, “whenever they won before, they always shared it.”